outgrow

[out-groh]

verb (used with object), out·grew, out·grown, out·grow·ing.

to grow too large for: to outgrow one's clothes.

to leave behind or lose in the changes incident to development or the passage of time: She outgrew her fear of the dark.

to surpass in growing: watching one child outgrow another.

verb (used without object), out·grew, out·grown, out·grow·ing.

Archaic. to grow out; burst forth; protrude.

Origin of outgrow

First recorded in 1585–95; out- + grow

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for outgrow

Contemporary Examples of outgrow

I would just say, musically, you just outgrow bands philosophically and politically.
Wyclef Jean Talks Lauryn Hill, the Yele Haiti Controversy, and Chris Christie
Marlow Stern
November 20, 2014
And the insertion of technology into clothes raises a host of potential problems: what if you outgrow the shirt?
Is Wearable Technology a Fad or the Future?
Daniel Gross
January 9, 2014

Historical Examples of outgrow

It is one of the penalties of Protestantism that the audiences, after a while, outgrow the preacher.
The American Mind
Bliss Perry
With these selected Vulpinas, the graft does not outgrow the stock.
Manual of American Grape-Growing
U. P. Hedrick
I suppose with that name she never had any incentive to outgrow her nature.
The Love Affairs of an Old Maid
Lilian Bell
It is a common belief that children will outgrow cross-eyes.
Five Lectures on Blindness
Kate M. Foley
All this is natural enough, we say, in a mere boy,—but he will outgrow it.
By the Christmas Fire
Samuel McChord Crothers

British Dictionary definitions for outgrow

outgrow

verb -grows, -growing, -grew or -grown (tr)

to grow too large for (clothes, shoes, etc)

to lose (a habit, idea, reputation, etc) in the course of development or time

to grow larger or faster than

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for outgrow

1590s, "to surpass in growth," from out + grow (v.). Meaning "to become too large or too mature for" is attested from 1660s. Related: Outgrowing; outgrown.